From the Union of Concerned Scientist July FEED  newletter:
 
3. Monsanto loses again: GE alfalfa banned nationwide
A  federal court has upheld a ban on the planting of Monsanto's genetically 
 engineered (GE) alfalfa in the United States. The Court of Appeals for the 
Ninth  Circuit reaffirmed its previous ruling that the alfalfa, which is 
engineered to  tolerate the herbicide Roundup, could contaminate conventional 
and organic  alfalfa and thus cause "irreversible harm" to the farmers whose 
livelihoods  depend on these crops and to the environment. In the original 
lawsuit, the  Center for Food Safety, other nonprofit organizations, and two 
alfalfa seed  producers sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for 
approving GE  alfalfa without preparing an environmental impact statement 
(EIS) as required by  federal law. After the district court issued its 
original ruling in 2008 to ban  the alfalfa, Monsanto and another biotechnology 
company appealed the ban, but  their appeal was denied in this final ruling. 
The ban will remain in place until  the USDA completes the EIS. Read _more 
from Reuters_ (http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=_BpSNwZHEyPmRm-ZMykvOg..) , or 
_read the decision_ 
(http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=N2hhtibBMVrPIzr89qy6Qw..)  (pdf).


       "We hope the  USDA finally gets the message that it must fully 
evaluate the public  health, environmental, and economic risks of GE crops before 
 allowing them to be widely planted." ~ Jane Rissler, Deputy  
Director/Senior  Scientist


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